That residue likely came from the "polishing" procedure used to manufacture your cookware. Give it a cleaning with Bar Keeper's Friend to remove it.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

The black residue is a very small amount of chromium rust which when it forms a thin coating on stainless steel gives it the brilliant shine. The same effect can be seen much more clearly when cleaning a stainless steel sink using the various cleaners made for the purpose. It can be minimized in cookware by using a suitable cleaner to shine things up once in a while but it has no real concerns otherwise.

IMO that residue IS NOT chromium oxide....and what you call "chromium rust". The protective chromium oxide layer on stainless steel is PASSIVE (not active) and does not come off readily with just a paper towel wipe. What does come off readily it that "other stuff" which clings to the stainless. Bar Keeper's Friend will clean that black residue right up........even if it were active chromium oxide....which it is not. BKF is nothing more than oxalic acid which is a very good chelating agent. In layman's terms....that means it cleans the HECK out of metal cookware. It is especially good at chelating active iron rust. It is very good for cleaning stains (often iron rust) and hardness residue (calcium and magnesium carbonates) off porcelain. For cleaning soapy scums and hard water films in tubs, showers, and sinks in the bathroom.....it is hard to beat Comet Bathroom Cleaner. Citric acid is the chemical in this product that does the cleaning.

Every kitchen should have a can of BKF because it chemically cleans so well. It does an excellent job of SAFELY cleaning cast aluminum pot/pans where that residue/discoloration often is active aluminum oxide. Same goes for Dawn Power Dissolver.....great for cleaning baked on grease. All three are wonderful time saving cleaning agents......that actually work!!

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

If you have granite, marble, or any natural stone countertop, be careful and avoid getting Bar Keeper's Friend on the natural stone. If it does, wipe it off asap. The acid from BKF can damage the natural stone.

Quality stainless steel cookware is 18/8 or 18/10, silicon/nickel ratios. Some knock-offs from other countries is labeled as 18/0.. Do not know what the /0 means..no nickel?? could be a bunch of metals thrown in to reduce the cost of the product and use up scrap..... Anyway...18/8 or 10 should not have any oxide on the surface.... Check the utensil to see if the nickel content is stamped on it...

I am having a similar problem with my new stainless steel sink. After washing it several times with dishwashing liquid I still get a black residue when I rub it with a soft cloth. I haven't tried BKF but will get some tomorrow. I am concerned about contaminating any food I put in the sink.

Better off buying carbon steel or cast iron and enameled cast iron anyway.

I bought two stainless steel pots and same issue. I'm kind of nervous about the residue. I had bought a stainless steal food container from Walmart and it had the same issue too. The bottom of my pots are stamped with 18/10 and I did pay more for my pots, so I'm hoping the quality is okay.

This is very common with new stainless steel cookware. Just give the inside a good scrub with Bar Keeper's friend and you should be fine. Also note when you scrub it with Bar Keeper's Friend in the future there will be a black residue on the sponge. This is just a small amount of the stainless coming off due to the abrasiveness of the cleaner.

Hi, I bought All Clad pots (18/10 stainless steel)...and cleaned the residue months ago while they were new...but now, after months of cooking in them, they still produce gray residue when I wipe them with wet kitchen towel. What is that?

i use stainless steel cookware and have for years. it looked like a metal polishing tool was used to make it shine. I used vinegar to clean them and occasionally will use cut lemon or lime. I have Bar Keepers Friend but dislike the chemical smell.

Never had this problem until last 5 years with metal debris on stainless.

This is the strangest thread I have ever seen on tbe internet. I began collecting All-Clad at the end of 1997 and have about 15 pieces. I clean pieces with either Bar Keepers Friend or with baking soda, then I put them in the dishwasher. Most of my pans look great, except for one tiny pit, about the size of a pin prick, in the 8 inch fry pan. Black residue? I don't understand where that would have come from. Why wash new cookware twice when once is enough? I never use Dawn because I have boycotted Proctor and Gamble for 40 years. I had other stainless priorprior to All-Clad, but gave it to my daughter's friends who were setting up their first apartments. I love how easy to clean stainless steel is.

I'm here with my veggies ready to use my new 18/10 stainless steel soup pot for the first time and found the black residue on the paper towel after two washings. I researched some more and I'm boiling 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and will wash after as suggested. If you don't hear back, it worked and I'm back to making soup cos I'm hungry!

Nowadays before I buy any stainless steel wares (pots, pans, mug, water bottle, lunch boxes, etc), I will always wipe it with a piece of tissue paper. I find that 60% of the time (some are from big brand companies), there is always this black residue, I have no idea what it is, but I always avoid buying such wares because how can ingesting black residue be harmless in the long-term? Washing it with dishwasher liquid, scrubbing it with rough sponge, it just keeps coming back with 1 tissue wipe.

Had the same problem but came across this article which addresses it. Helped me at least.

https://www.thecookwareadvisor.com/6-stains-on-stainless-steel

Another great way to eradicate the black from stainless is Vinegar, white distilled kind. I used an old white cloth and soaked it in Vinegar and wiped the pot till no more black came off. Also great for getting stains off bottom of a pot, just cover the bottom let sit an hour or so and stains are gone. The simplest work most times .

I used white Vinegar to get the black off my stainless pot. Use a white cloth and keep it wet and rub over it till it come clean. Vinegar also gets stains off the bottom inside , just let soak for hour or so and its gone.

Lately I have been drinking a mineral water called Gerolsteiner which is from Germany. The bottle I have been buying is glass and has what I think is an aluminum cap. I have been refilling the bottles with filtered water several times before opening a new bottle. I just noticed that if I take a paper towel and dry the cap after rinsing it off I see a decent amount of this black stuff and it's also on the threads of the glass bottle. The cap and bottle threads appear to be clean until one looks at what comes off on the paper towel. I then opened a new bottle and wiped the cap and bottle treads and nothing was seen.

It's the same type of residue that I have seen come off our kitchen sink after washing it and then using a paper towel to dry it.

Interesting thread. I just bought some stainless steel measuring cups and spoons. When unpacking them their was a black residue on my hands. I tested them for lead, no lead. Not sure if I will keep them or not. I've never seen this before with stainless but this thread shows it is common.

"New Stainless Cookware Black residue" -> Silicon carbide.

Don't use Bar Keeper Friend.

I just bought an 8qt pasta pot and used it once. I was shipped one that was damaged, and kept it while waiting to use the replacement. I'm glad I did because the new pot is stained as if it was on fire after one use. I boiled water, then added a small about of olive oil and salt. I have NEVER seen a pot do this. Do I throw it away? My old pot NEVER did this and I only had to replace it because after 30 years the rivets in the handles sprung leaks. This is crazy! Why did this happen after once use ? I need a pasta pot that does NOT do this.

After an initial cleaning, try wiping with a cooking oiled paper towel(s) until it goes away. I've found that soap doesn't do that well, but will remove any oil residue. Also works on "pre-seasoned" carbon steel.

We ended up cleaning ours really well with dish soap and a magic eraser. Then running them through the dishwasher. So far the black residue has not returned.

I've had this happen with ANYTHING made of stainles steel, when it's been scrubbed, for at least the last 30 years. My kitchen sink, cookie sheets, skillets, etc. I've had many of the things for over 30 years, so it's not because they're "new" or "coated". After scrubbing I always wipe then with paper towels until the black residue is more or less gone, and then rinse and dry once more. I don't want whatever it is in my food. I contacted Scotch-Brite because their green scrubbers are what I usually use, and I hope to hear back from then in a couple of days. Somebody somewhere must know... I'm just so glad to see this thread about it. I haven't been able to find an answer -- or even find it mentioned -- anywhere else.